Article III has also been pitching this as a possible campaign issue to Republicans running for Senate and other outside groups, this person said. The other groups include the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC that is defending the GOP majority in the U.S., and Heritage Action for America, a lobbying and advocacy organization that often pushes for conservative policy proposals while conducting heavy engagement with grassroots voters.
They are also moving toward developing an ad campaign that will target candidates who have endorsed Biden and opposed Kavanaugh, questioning whether they’re applying a double standard. The ads will likely be either digital outlets or in print newspapers across the country, although a final decision has yet to be made.
The tactic to use the Reade allegations comes as Republicans are trying to fend off a surge by the opposing party. Polls showing that Democrats are ahead of their Republican challengers in several of these races. A Real Clear Politics polling average has Biden above Trump by about 5 points.
“I think it could be a real issue this fall with politicians like [Sara] Gideon as well as Mark Kelly in Arizona, who opposed Kavanaugh but now says he’s sticking with Biden,” said Steven Law, the CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC dedicated to helping Republicans maintain their majority in the Senate. “How do you defend two totally different standards of dealing with these kinds of allegations, other than raw politics?”
When asked whether similar tactics would show up in Senate Leadership Fund ads, Law only would say “stay tuned.”
Law, who was once a chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also noted that this effort is about the Republican effort to ensure more conservative judges are appointed to the federal judiciary.
Gideon, who is currently the favorite to win her Democratic primary and take on Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, has said that the lawmaker’s decision to support Kavanaugh’s confirmation was one of the reasons she decided to run. Gideon has endorsed Biden and doesn’t appear to have taken a public stance on Reade’s allegations.
Mark Kelly, a former astronaut who is married to former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was severely wounded in a mass shooting in 2011, is taking on Sen. Martha McSally. While it doesn’t appear he called out Kavanaugh over Ford’s allegations, he did oppose Kavanaugh’s nomination over his stances on gun rights. Kelly has said in the wake of the Reade allegations that all accusers should be heard but that he and Giffords are standing by Biden.
“These are often very complicated issues and I think it’s really important that the person who is making these allegations has the opportunity to state the case and have it looked into,” Kelly recently told a local radio show.
Sen. Doug Jones is preparing to fight off the eventual winner of the Alabama GOP primary. Jones, a Biden supporter, recently questioned the validity of Reade’s comments in an interview with the Huffington Post. He had previously spoke up for Ford during the Kavanaugh fight.
After CNBC interviewed the Senate Leadership Fund’s Law, the group took aim at Jones in an email to supporters — a potential preview of how they will go after the Democrat, who is defending a seat in a reliably red state.
“So when a Democrat is accused of sexual assault, Jones believes the accused, but when a Republican-nominated judge is accused of sexual assault, Jones says we must believe the alleged victim?” the email said.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/07/gop-groups-look-to-use-biden-sex-assault-allegation-in-key-senate-races.html